Technical guidance on water-related disease surveillance

This guidance is intended to assist the countries that are Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes in establishing and/or strengthening their detection and early warning systems, contingency plans and capacity to respond to outbreaks of water-related disease accordance with article 8 of the Protocol.

The guidance reviews the main threats to health related to water services, recalls basic concepts of epidemiology and disease surveillance and advises on data management and analysis. It will therefore also support countries’ efforts towards national and international health security, in line with the International Health Regulations (2005). The Parties to the Protocol approved this guidance in November 2010.